Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69919 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69919 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“You’re Ariel, right?” the little boy continued.
I squatted down so we were eye level. “Nope. My name is Jolie.”
His face turned down in a frown. “But you’re Ariel,” he insisted. He reached out and gently pulled a lock of my hair. “Like from The Little Mermaid.”
“Joey.” Boone’s voice was firm but gentle. “You can’t pull a girl’s hair.”
“I didn’t pull it,” he insisted, turning to him. “I just wanted to touch it. But she said she’s not Ariel.”
“That’s right.” Boone scooped him up, grinning. “This is my friend Jolie. She’s another coach here at hockey camp.”
“You’re not a mermaid?” Joey turned to me almost accusingly and I laughed.
“I’m sorry, no. I wish I was a mermaid, but no tail, see?” I held out my right foot and wiggled it a little.
Joey laughed.
“This is my nephew, Joey,” Boone said. “My sister’s son. He’ll be staying with me for a while.” The look he gave me told me there was a lot more to the story but that we shouldn’t talk about it in front of Joey.
I nodded, a relief I couldn’t explain surging through me.
It wasn’t his kid.
Not that his having a child would have changed anything on my part, but at least this meant I hadn’t hit on someone in a relationship.
“Do you play hockey?” I asked Joey.
He shook his head sadly. “No. But Mommy says Uncle Mikey can teach me!”
“What did I tell you to call me, buddy?”
Joey grinned up at him. “Uncle Boone! Like your hockey buddies!”
“Right.” Boone ruffled his hair. “Hang on while I go find you some skates, okay?”
“Okay.” Joey seemed happy to sit on the nearest bench, playing with a stuffed elephant that looked well loved.
“Walk with me, Jolie?” he asked.
“Uh, sure.” I fell into step next to him.
“I wanted to apologize for the other night,” he said softly.
“Oh, it’s okay.” This was the last thing I wanted to talk about.
“No, it’s not.” He stopped and turned to me. “I didn’t mean to seem like I was blowing you off. That wasn’t it at all. I wanted to come upstairs, but I’m worried—”
“Uncle Boone, look!” Joey came racing over to us, pointing at the ice. “Is that the zologna?” He pronounced it like bologna but with a Z.
“It’s called a Zamboni,” Boone said, cracking up.
I laughed too.
“Can I ride it?” Joey asked, his eyes wide with excitement.
“Not today,” Boone said. “But I’ll ask and maybe next time, okay?”
Joey’s face fell.
“We’ll make it happen,” I whispered to him. “But there isn’t enough time today, okay?”
“Thanks, Jolie.” His little grin melted my heart.
He ran to the glass to watch the ice being cleaned and Boone followed him with his eyes. “Poor kid. Emma’s a great mom, but she’s been through a lot.”
“How long will he be staying with you?” I asked politely, unsure how to get back to the conversation we’d been having before so he could explain what he was worried about.
Boone sighed. “I don’t know. Emma—” He stopped abruptly and looked around, dropping his voice as if he didn’t want anyone to hear us. “She just went into rehab. It’s looking like twelve weeks.”
“What about his dad?”
He shook his head. “Gone. Left them.”
“Dickhead.”
“Tell me about it.”
“What will you do when you travel?” I asked. It was none of my business, but I couldn’t help myself.
“Wes’s wife Hadley has said she’ll keep him sometimes and Sheridan the rest of the time. Just depends on who’s feeling the best since both of them are pregnant.”
“I can help,” I said, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. “I’m done with the research part of my dissertation, so now I just have to write the thing, and I can do that from anywhere most of the time. And maybe when you’re traveling, if he enjoys coming, I can pick him up and bring him here with me for a couple of hours to give Hadley or Sheridan a break.”
“You’d do that for me?” His eyes met mine and something lurked behind them I couldn’t quite decipher. These were the times I got the feeling he was into me, despite his rejection the other night.
“Hey, like Dad always says, the Mavericks are a family, and this is important. I don’t mind at all. We can talk before the next road trip and figure out a schedule for whatever you need.”
“Thanks, Jolie.” He nodded solemnly. “I mean it.”
“Of course.” I glanced toward the pro shop, where Gil was waving at me. “I guess my skates are ready, but I’ll see you on the ice.”
“For sure. And we’re going to finish our conversation,” he called after me.
We were?
Oh boy.
I didn’t know what that meant, but I liked the sound of it.
As usual, I was late the next morning. We didn’t have nine-to-five hours since we often worked until late in the night, and that was what I had planned for tonight. Hockey camp was closed for two days for ice refurbishing, so I would be here at the lab as long as I could keep my eyes open.